Episode 220 (Manga)
Synopsis Slan scolds the Skull Knight for having interrupted her moment alone with Guts. The Skull Knight does not play along with her playful words, instead speaking bluntly; he wonders why Slan was the only member of the God Hand summoned inside the cave, but she corrects him: she hadn't been summoned, but instead came of her own volition to see Guts. She adds that Griffith's reemergence into the physical world is causing a much greater overlap of the layers of the universe and that she does not know the whereabouts of the other members of the God Hand. Slan having answered the Skull Knight's questions without his needing to ask them first, he draws his sword, ready to fight. In response, Slan summons four ogres that emerge from the bloodstained water she and Guts are in. Schierke has erected two more bulwarks to protect her group from a horde of trolls: one bulwark for herself, and another for Isidro, Farnese, Casca and the women and children of Enoch Village. Schierke's eyes are closed and she is entranced, intending to cast a spell. As such, she cannot see that the trolls before her are armed with farm tools. Isidro knows that since the farm tools are from the physical world, they cannot be blocked by Schierke's bulwarks, so he steps out of his own bulwark's radius to face the trolls head-on to defend Schierke from their harmful weapons. Schierke herself is completely unaware of the events surrounding her in the physical world. She has mentally wandered back into the astral world, where she meets a giant creature that looks like the personification of a swamp. The Skull Knight is able to effortlessly dispatch Slan's ogres. He then cuts through a summoned horde of trolls just as easily. Slan tells him that his efforts are futile as the "Uterus of Darkness" is her personal domain in which she can summon as many dark beings as suits her needs. Her words draw the Skull Knight's attention towards her, and he suddenly becomes the first of the two to realize the situation that Slan now finds herself in: she looks down at Guts, who has managed to point his prosthetic arm at her stomach and pull its secondary trigger with his teeth. The cannon is fired, and Slan takes the impact with a smile. Isidro is able to ward off the first wave of trolls in front of the group. The lead troll steps forward, easily recognizable by the facts that it is nearly twice the size of the trolls around it and that it is armored and wielding both a crossbow and a intricately-crafted waraxe. Isidro is fearful of his new opponent, but seems to find inspiration when he glances at the salamanders which inhabit his salamander dagger. He then remembers how Morgan had almost lost his life while protecting Isidro back in Enoch Village. The troll aims its crossbow at the boy, who begins to move. As though unaware of his own actions, Isidro lights a small explosive and throws it at the troll leader, who blocks it with a lowly troll. Isidro rolls forward to dodge an arrow fired by the leader. Now within its axe's reach, Isidro rolls forward once more to dodge another attack. As his roll comes to an end, he draws his new blade and slices under the troll's arm. He ends his assault by stabbing it with the salamander dagger, which releases a burst of flame. Despite having a large hole blown into her stomach, Slan is more aroused at being injured than concerned. The wound she has begins to close, and she tells Guts that killing her takes much more than a simple cannon blast. The Skull Knight calls out to the shocked Guts, saying that Slan can be injured by the Dragon Slayer (due to it existing in the Interstice after being used to kill apostles). Guts heeds the Skull Knight's words and stabs Slan with half of the blade's entire length. Characters in Order of Appearance